Toronto Cabs go Crooked.
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a nice night celebrating the start of 2006. We certainly had a good start with good sushi and champagne last night.
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But I also had an experience last night that was completely new in my 14 years of celebrating New Years in Toronto - negotiated cab fares. As Karina, Amanda and I looked for a cab last night at just past 4am, we found that not one but all cab drivers that stopped at the curb wanted to discuss the fare with us off the meter -- including one Beck driver at more that 3x the usual rate.
Now, OK, I know I'm a boyscout and that cabs are hard to come by on New Year's. But this kind of experience really irks me. And reason number one is not that I'm upset that I had to wait for a long time in the cold (although it did give drivers a stronger negotiating position), but one of safety. What would have happened if we hadn't has the means to hire a cab at these rates? Would we have had to risk exposure or assault? If there's no meter and no dispatch, how are customers protected from the rouge driver that decides to rob or rape his fare? What is the difference between a cab and a private vehicle picking up hitchhikers in this scenario? Taxis are a quasi-public entity and have a regulated fare rate that is published to protect the customer. Licenses are issued for taxi operation as another assurance that their operation is in accordance with some community standard. And yet increasingly it seems that these regulations are meaningless and cabs are operated as private vehicles.
In cities like Toronto, taxis are providing essential services for the city to keep private vehicle use in the city down (limiting congestion) and also keeping drunk drivers off the road. What the hell happens if the observance of fare regulations in this city goes away unchecked? Barring the very unlikely prefect market balance where the premium proposed by the driver does not exceed each customer's combined operating costs, risk tolerance and subjective willingness to pay the premium - we'll have more drunk-driving and traffic will get chaotic as private vehicle use increases. Will women have to run the risk of walking the streets at night to find a bus? Will bars have to provide private cars to ferry their patrons home or fear suit or loss of business?
Given that the cab companies (who we already frustrating know don't communicate road safety or closures to their drivers) have essentially reinvented themselves as marketing agencies that rent cars to the drivers, we aren't likely to find a remedy through self-regulation within the industry. But I think that herein lies the problem - the cab companies aren't responsible for the service their drivers render and yet their car rental rates to the drivers (according to numerous driver interviews I've conducted, last night was about $500/shift) encourage driver "entrepreneurship". So how do we maintain a taxi service that is safe, efficient and price-transparent?
I have two alternatives for consideration:
1. Revoke private licensing and operate the taxi force as another branch of city services.
2. Maintain the private system with stronger regulations. Among the initiatives for this proposal: Apply pressure to the cab companies to have all rides metered at the official rate. Have centralized reporting for all trips and automatic trip receipts for customers.
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And yes, we took a $30 unmetered ride home. And tipped.
--------
But I also had an experience last night that was completely new in my 14 years of celebrating New Years in Toronto - negotiated cab fares. As Karina, Amanda and I looked for a cab last night at just past 4am, we found that not one but all cab drivers that stopped at the curb wanted to discuss the fare with us off the meter -- including one Beck driver at more that 3x the usual rate.
Now, OK, I know I'm a boyscout and that cabs are hard to come by on New Year's. But this kind of experience really irks me. And reason number one is not that I'm upset that I had to wait for a long time in the cold (although it did give drivers a stronger negotiating position), but one of safety. What would have happened if we hadn't has the means to hire a cab at these rates? Would we have had to risk exposure or assault? If there's no meter and no dispatch, how are customers protected from the rouge driver that decides to rob or rape his fare? What is the difference between a cab and a private vehicle picking up hitchhikers in this scenario? Taxis are a quasi-public entity and have a regulated fare rate that is published to protect the customer. Licenses are issued for taxi operation as another assurance that their operation is in accordance with some community standard. And yet increasingly it seems that these regulations are meaningless and cabs are operated as private vehicles.
In cities like Toronto, taxis are providing essential services for the city to keep private vehicle use in the city down (limiting congestion) and also keeping drunk drivers off the road. What the hell happens if the observance of fare regulations in this city goes away unchecked? Barring the very unlikely prefect market balance where the premium proposed by the driver does not exceed each customer's combined operating costs, risk tolerance and subjective willingness to pay the premium - we'll have more drunk-driving and traffic will get chaotic as private vehicle use increases. Will women have to run the risk of walking the streets at night to find a bus? Will bars have to provide private cars to ferry their patrons home or fear suit or loss of business?
Given that the cab companies (who we already frustrating know don't communicate road safety or closures to their drivers) have essentially reinvented themselves as marketing agencies that rent cars to the drivers, we aren't likely to find a remedy through self-regulation within the industry. But I think that herein lies the problem - the cab companies aren't responsible for the service their drivers render and yet their car rental rates to the drivers (according to numerous driver interviews I've conducted, last night was about $500/shift) encourage driver "entrepreneurship". So how do we maintain a taxi service that is safe, efficient and price-transparent?
I have two alternatives for consideration:
1. Revoke private licensing and operate the taxi force as another branch of city services.
2. Maintain the private system with stronger regulations. Among the initiatives for this proposal: Apply pressure to the cab companies to have all rides metered at the official rate. Have centralized reporting for all trips and automatic trip receipts for customers.
-
And yes, we took a $30 unmetered ride home. And tipped.
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